Michael Lopez

ARH 2051
March 8, 2016
Midterm essay

I chose two artworks. The Italian Quattrocento artwork is from the artist Sandro
Botticelli, The Birth of Venus; Tempera on canvas; Uffizi, Florence. The other artist I
chose is Rogier Van der Weyden from northern Europe and his artwork, The Descent
from The Cross (c.1435), oil on oak panel; Museo del Prado, Madrid. These pieces of
art have some similarities and some differences.
Both The Birth of Venus and The Decent from The cross are paintings that were
painted in Europe. They both show human figures as the central aspects of the
paintings. Both emphasize the forms of fabrics with design patterns by rendering them
with folds and waves. Both paintings have narratives; The Descent from the Cross tells
the story of Jesus Christ being lowered from the cross. In The Birth of Venus, there are
many interpretations; mythological, political, and religious.
The Birth of Venus and The Descent from the Cross are very beautiful painting
that have a lot of similarities but they also contain many differences. In The Descent
from The Cross, Van der Weyden uses oil on oak panel. This gives him more
opportunity to show detail and when the paint dries out, the thickness of the paint gives
it more dimension. Meanwhile, in The Birth of Venus, Botticelli uses tempera on canvas
which was widely used during the 15th century in Italy. The Descent from The Cross
shows very expressive emotion of agony, especially shown in the devastated women;
and he focused more on figures rather than nature. However, in The Birth of Venus, the
humans are very emotionless and Botticelli paints both human figures and nature. The
Descent from The Cross has a medieval view of religious symbolism, referencing the
crucifixion of Christ as they lower his body. In The Birth of Venus, this painting has a lot
of interpretations; an elderly goddess who aroused humans to physical love, it
represented the Neoplatonic idea of divine love, and nudity suggests Eve while she was
in The Garden of Eden. The Descent from The Cross has natural elements and man-

made objects giving the painting realistic aspects. The natural elements are the figures,
and bones. The man-made objects are the ladder, cross, and cloth. In contrast, The
Birth of Venus is very fantasy due to the natural elements painting differently, with Venus
on top of a shell. In The Descent from The Cross, the artist paints very detailed with a
wide range of tones, textures, shadows, perspective and depth. Meanwhile The Birth of
Venus is very flat with hardly any volume to the figures, and no shadows casted. Lastly,
Van der Weyden used a broad range of colors; mainly primary colors to give the forms a
more rendered appearance. Botticelli in contrast, painted with very dull colors and
hardly any variation, keeping the paintings very settle and light.
To conclude, the two paintings Birth of Venus from Botticelli and The Descent
from the Cross show a few similarities and many differences ranging from the painting
styles of the artists, narratives, use of mediums and color schemes.